Chris Dudley standing in front of his Oregon home.

Like most retired athletes, Chris Dudley still clings to the thing that helped make him famous.

But the former Knick and Net, who played for fives teams over a 16-year career, is a far cry from the down-and-out, autograph signing ex-jock hanging on to yesteryear to make a living.

Dudley, a Yale grad and a partner at a wealth management firm in Oregon, has been a Type 1 diabetic since high school and belongs to a small fraternity of players to have played in the NBA with the disease.

Outspoken about diabetes management, Dudley established his own foundation while playing for the Trail Blazers in 1994, and twice testified before Congress after retiring from the league in 2003 in an effort to raise funds and awareness.

He runs a basketball camp every summer for diabetics, providing instruction on the fundamentals of the game while teaching young athletes how to control their blood sugar levels during strenuous exercise.

The weeklong camp, open to boys and girls ages 10-17, has been attended by athletes from 48 states. This year's enrollment was filled in less than 10 minutes, a full seven months before campers report in the first week of August.

"I wanted to show kids with diabetes that they could play sports," Dudley says of creating the camp. "The kids will say - and this breaks your heart - that for one week they feel normal to be testing their blood out in the open. They're completely at ease. It's just awesome."

Where did Dudley, 44, get his inspiration to pursue athletics? From Bobby Clarke, a fellow diabetic and Hall of Fame hockey player who played for the Flyers from 1969-84.

"It gave me hope that I could make my JV basketball team," Dudley says. "Knowing the impact that had on me, it was a big push for me to have the camp and be open about having diabetes."

But that wasn't necessarily the case when the Cavaliers drafted Dudley in the fourth round in 1987. The 6-11 center was afraid the disease would be viewed as a liability or weakness, or someone would make "an issue out of a non-issue."

But Dudley, a defensive and rebounding specialist who once missed 17 of 18 free throws, including a record 13 straight, led the league in games played (all 82) during the 1994-95 season. He played in 886 career games, averaging 3.9 points, 6.2 rebounds and 1.2 blocks per game.

His most memorable moment: Being a Knick and beating the Pacers in the 1999 Eastern Conference finals, then facing the Spurs for the title, which San Antonio captured in five games.

Three years after retiring, Dudley was contacted by a handful of teams who were interested in drafting Adam Morrison, the diabetic forward out of Gonzaga who was taken by the Bobcats with the third pick in the draft.

"It can be tough, but it requires discipline," is what Dudley told teams doing their due diligence on Morrison, "It's just something that you have to be aware of, there's never a break from it."

On top of coaching diabetic athletes, Dudley also mentored the Timberwolves' Kevin Love, who played high school ball in Lake Oswego, Dudley's hometown. But what he loves most is working with kids who are living with the same disease, who refuse to be held back while still hoping there will someday be a cure.

"I've had it for 28 years, and when I talk to the kids in my camp, I personally feel like none of them will have it for 28 years," Dudley says of finding a cure. "I feel like we're getting closer and closer, but the big reason for our foundation is to focus on the here and now, the kids still have a lot of formative years ahead of them."

Dudley spent three seasons with the Knicks, and looks back on that time as the highlight of his career, especially being a part of the 1999 team that was the most recent Knick team to reach the NBA Finals.

Where recent teams have seemed to fail, the '99 squad excelled.

"People still ask me what it was like playing in New York," Dudley says. "Personally, I loved it, but it probably wouldn't be a as fun if you're not on a winning team . . . We had a great team, and we probably overachieved because we were so together. We had great chemistry on that team."

At the same time Dudley has had an impact on young kids with diabetes. He and his wife, Chris Love-Dudley, have written a children's book, "Chris Dreams Big," about the disease and overcoming adversity. Dudley also serves as a financial adviser for current professional athletes.

"Sports are like no other," he says. "Other than runway models, where else is there a career that's so finite, where it's over as early as 30?

This is the economics major speaking, the Yale grad who would have been just as happy to head right to Wall Street and sit courtside at Knicks games, just not on the bench.

"Having the foundation, and being an investment manager, being able to go on to a second career," he says, "it's just been very rewarding."